Drawer tilt adjustment means



March 15., 1960 v. H. HIERS DRAWER TILT ADJUSTMENT MEANS Filed June 19, 1957 WW DE 4 position of the drawer so as to provide for a vertical 25 .co-pending application Serial No. 658,461 filed May 10,

r 2,928,696 Patented Mar. 15, 1960.

the drawer guide 12, the drawer, portions of which are 2 schematically indicated .at 23, is provided with a metallic.

drawer runner 24, one suitably secured to eachside of the drawer body 23 rearwardly of the drawer front 25 and extending rearwardly somewhat'beyond the drawer body 23 as at 26. The drawer runner 24 includes a 'vertical element web 27, an outwardly laterally directed flange 28, and an inwardly laterally directed flange 29, upon which latter the drawer 23 rests as best seen in Fig. 3, the drawer being additionally suitably secured to the drawer runner 24 as need be here shown. It will be understood that a description of one of the drawer runners and its companion guide-at one side of the drawer will suflice, the other drawer runner and its guide at the other drawer side being similar and complementary.

In the in and out movements of the drawer, the drawer runner flange 28 rides on the periphery of the drawer It has been found in quantity production of such equipguide roller22, and, on the rear end portion 26 of the ment that certain predetermined interlocking arrangedrawer runner 24 is mounted another similar roller 30 ments require certain tolerances that may necessitatef that rotates on a bearing stud 31 that passes through selective adjustments for individual cabinets for example," aneghas limited vertical adjustment in a slot 32 in the in the finished article. T WCb,:ti)I"V6rtiCa1 element 27 of thedrawer runner 24. The An object of the present invention is 'to permit vertical '-drawer roller projects laterally outwardly on the adjustments of drawer fronts particularly in the outer "stud31 andrides in the drawer guide 12 in contact with either o'f the flanges 18 and 19 of the drawer guide, the latter thus acting as a track for the roller 30.

The rollers 22 and 30 are desirably of anti-friction character and are advantageously made of molded nylon.- 7 Taking up now the expedients to which the present in= vention is directed, in accordance herewith, the bearing stud 31 for the'roller 30 carries, on the inner face of the vertical member '27 of the drawer runner 24, a rotatively 2,928,696 DRAWER TILT ADJUSTMENT MEANS 5 Victor H. Hiers, Two Rivers, Wis, assignor to Hamilton Manufacturing Company, Two Rivers, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application June 19, 1957, Serial No. 666,731

5 Claims. (Cl. 308-433) This invention relates to drawer tilt adjustment means 15 more particularly for laboratory equipment and other professional furniture.

spacing between drawers. or between a drawer and 'a cabinet door for example for the purpose of avoiding interference of the parts and enhancing the efliciency of the cabinets. Y

' The foregoing and other objects and advantages will be 30 apparent from the following description, taken together with the accompanying drawings, of an illustrative, emi bodiment of the invention, and in which drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a drawer runner therein of a diameter just to pass the stud 31 rotatably and drawer guide supported on a cabinet wall looking at therethrough. As best seen in Fig. 3 a washer 35 is the far side thereof when the drawer is pulled out as shown interposed between the disc 33 and the runner web for use, the drawer front being shown in section; 27, and a locking nut 36 is screwed onto the threads of Figure 2 is a partial view of parts shown in Fig. 1 in an alternative position;

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 2 enlarged and being a section taken on the linev 44 of Fig. 3; and

Figure 5 is a separate view of the eccentric disc or cam shown in the other figures. i

Referring in detail to the illustrative construction show in the drawings, the numeral 11 indicates a portion/of a cabinet or the like, provided with a plurality of vertically spaced apart drawers, the drawers being mounted for outward and inward movement in the cabinet 11. For such sliding support of the drawers the cabinet customarily carries a drawer track or guide, here embodied in the metallic channel-shape member 12 suitably fixedly secured parallel with the cabinet side member 13 by suitable means for example one of which is described in my the opposite or inner face of the web 27 a clamping nut 37 is screwed onto the stud and by tightening this latter locking nut 36 to clamp the web 27 therebetween andnormally prevent vertical movement of the stud 31 in the elongated slot 32.

"Provision is made, in accordance with the present invention, for positively preventing undesired downward tional clamping action of nut- 37 and for this purpose the periphery of the disc 33 is eccentric with respect to the axis of the stud 31 and by the same token the axis of the disc. As here shown, the disc periphery describes an involute curve and has a relatively low region 38 and a relatively high or larger region 39, the one merging by relatively uniform gradations into the other. Between has an integralthumb-piece formation 40 on which there is an indicator mark or pointer 41.

By loosening the nut 37 on the stud 31 the disc'33 maybe rotated, conveniently using the thumb-piece 40, -to bring either the low point 38 of the disc periphery or the 1957, entitled Demountable Drawer Support Arrange-- ments, and which includes, as here shown, a lug 14 on the drawer guide turned laterally outwardly and received in a slot in an inner wall member 16 integral with the cabinet side wall 13. Lug 15 may carry a stop for the drawer front in its inner position. The guide 12' includes the vertical element 17, upper flange 18 and lower flange 19, both laterally inwardly directed. At its forward end the upper flange 18 is discontinued and the guide is vertically enlarged as at 20 where there is rotatably mounted on hearing stud 21 a roller 22, the bearing stud also assisting in mounting the guide on the cabinet part 16', asdescribed in my said co-pending application. -For inward and outward movement with respect toflangc 29 of the drawer runner 24, or any intermediate point on the disc. Re-tightening of the nut 37 clamps the disc against rotation and fixes such adjustment as just referred to. through guide flange 18, roller 30, and stud 31 tending to move the stud downwardly in the vertically elongated slotj32, such force will'be taken by disc 33 and drawer runner flange 29 thus preventing it from doing so.

adjustable cam disc 33 that has a circular opening 34.

the stud 31 between the web 27 and the roller 30. Off

nut the disc 33 and washer 35 are brought towardthe movement of stud 31 in slot 32 independently of fric the low point 38 and high point 39 the disc conveniently high point 39 thereof into engagement with the lower" I Consequently,gshould force be exerted disc 33 in contact with the flange 29 thus positively/locks the stud against downward movement in t-he 'slot in? masses, t.

dependently of frictional clamping action of the nuts 34 and 37.

For convenient cooperation with the pointer 41, arcuately arranged dial markings such as exemplified at 42, 43, 44 and 45 are carried by the vertical element or web 27 of the drawer runner 24. When the pointer 41 is "in register with the dial marking 42, for example, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 the disc 33 is rotatably adjusted so that the distance 46 between the disc center and the upper surface of the flange 29 is approximately at a minimum, the low region 38 of the disc periphery being at this time in contact with the flange and the stud 31 being permitted substantially the limit of its vertical downward movement in the slot 32, indicated at 46 (Fig. 2). i When, however, the disc 33 is rotatably adjusted 'to the position shown in Fig. 1 in which the pointer 41 is in register with the dial marking 45 on the drawer runner, a portion of the higher or larger region of the periphery of the disc 33 is in contact with the flange 29 and the distance 47 (Fig. 1) between the axis of the stud and disc and the upper surface of the flange 29 is greater than the distance 46 (Fig. 2) thus determining a higher position for the stud 33 in the slot 32 or, looking at it another way, permitting the rear end of the drawer to occupy a lower position on stud 31.

Since the drawer rides on the cabinet roller 22 as on a fulcrum,-the vertical position of the axis of roller 30 (which is the same as the axis of the stud and of the disc 33) inthe slot 32 (the vertical position of roller 30 and stud 31 being fixed substantially by guide 12) determines the angle or tilt of the drawer with respect to the cabinet front 48. If the roller 30 is moved relatively upwardly in the slot 32, the rear end of the drawer is thereby moved downwardly with respect to the guide 12, as seen in Fig. 1, and the drawer front 25 is tilted upwardly upon the fulcrum 22. This results in a given space such as 49 between the drawer front 25 and the next below adjacent drawer front 50, so as to avoid interference be-' tween them in their outer positions.

' If itbe desired to partially close the space 49 to bring the drawer front 25 nearer to the next below adjacent drawer front 50, so as, for example, to avoid interference between drawer front 25 and another drawer next above 'it, the nut 37 having been first loosened and later tightened while maintaining the periphery'of the disc 33 in'. engagement with the drawer runner flange 29, the disc 33 is rotated counterclockwise in the figures of the drawing. If the pointer 41 be placed opposite the dial marking 44, for example, the drawer front 25 would .be less upwardly tilted. The drawer might be substantially horizontal on its fulcrum 22, if the eccentric disc 33 be rotated so that the pointer 41 is brought into register with the dial mark 43, say. It now the eccentric disc 33 be further rotated counterclockwise to the position shown in Fig. 2 at which the pointer 41 is in register with the dial marking 42, the rear end of the drawer will be further elevated with respect to the pivot of the drawer on the roller 22 so that the drawer front 25 is now tilted downwardly instead of upwardly as in Fig. 1. This would further reduce the space between the drawer front 25 and the drawer front 50 next below.

It will be understood that the drawer of, the drawer front 50 could also be provided with the same adjustment mechanism for determining its tilt so that infinite grada-- tions of the space between two vertically adjacent drawers may be accomplished. 7

Not only does" the eccentric disc 33'serve as a gauge for selective tilting adjustments of the drawer, but it also provides a positive stop against upward movement of a rear end of a drawer with respect to the axis of the stud 31,,as by the stud slipping in the vertically elongated slot 32 by failure say to sufiiciently tighten the clamping nut 31. Drawers of this type may be quite heavilyiloaded tion the weight of. the forward end of the drawer plus its contents exerts considerable leverage through the fulcrum 22 urging the rear end of the drawer upwardly, such action being precluded by the present invention.

It will be understood that leverage tending to raise the rear end of the drawer occurs chiefly when the drawer is largely or fully extended at which time the drawer is projected from the/cabinet in cantilever fashion and at which time the drawer roller 30 rides in engagement with the upper flange 18'of the cabinet guide 12. As the drawer is pushed .:back into the cabinet'the roller 22 on the cabinet ceases to have a fulcrum action and the drawer is supported by the roller 22 on the cabinet and the roller 30 on the drawer, the latter roller at this time riding on the lower part 19'of the guide 12 to prevent downward movement of the rear end of the drawer, the guide 12 thus functioning as a track for the drawer at all times.

When a drawer is fullywithdrawn, the bumper button 51 on the inner face of vertical element 17 is abutted by the outstop lug 52 on the outer face of vertical element 27 to limit withdrawal and guard against dropping of the drawer and spilling of its contents. When it, is desired to remove the drawer from the cabinet it may be pulled forward and manually lifted sufficiently to raise the outstop lug 52 over the bumper 51 and roller 22. 4

. thereof and such changes may be made as fall within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the invention. 1 3 What is here claimed is: V 1

1. Drawer tilt adjustment means comprising, drawer guide means having a vertical element and an upper flange and a lower flange, a roller fixed on said vertical element, a drawer runner having a vertical element and an upper and lower flange, said runner being arranged to travel longitudinally with respect to said guide means with the runner upper flange traveling on the roller of the guide means, a roller on the runner for contacting the under surface of said guide means upper flange to limit upward movement of the last mentioned roller, 2. bearing stud for the last mentioned roller, a vertically elongated slot in the runner vertical element passing said stud therethrough for vertical adjustments of the stud therein,: 'a'irotatively adjustable cam disc on the stud having a circular opening passing said stud closely therethrough, said disc contacting said runner lower flange and the periphery of said disc being eccentric to said opening, and a nut screwed onto said stud for clamping the stud, disc and last mentioned roller to said runner vertical element, whereby the disc may be adjusted rotatively 'to contact said runner lower flange in all vertically adjusted positions of the stud in the slot to prevent downward movement of the stud relatively therein.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein there is a thumbpiece formation on the periphery of the disc.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the runner vertical element carries dial markings and the disc has a pointer for registering with the dial markings.

4. Drawer tilt adjustment means in combination with a forwardlydisposed drawer support element providing a fulcrum for .the drawer and a rearwardly disposed elementon the drawer providing a stop for vertical movement of the rear end of the drawer, said stop including a stud and an eccentric disc rotatably mounted on said stud, ofn eans for adjusting'the vertical position of the stop with respect to the drawer including a. slot in the drawerfor the stud and an abutment on the drawer for the periphery of the eccentric disc, and means for posi: tively fixing said adjustment means. i

5. In drawer tilt adjustment means, a drawer having a drawer side piece, a guide track for the drawer having a flange, a forwardly disposed drawer support element.

and when the drawer is withdrawn to its outermost posh-15 on the track providing a fulcrum for the drawer, a roller 5 extended from the drawer side piece engaging the under face of said track guide flange, a member rotatably mounting said roller, a vertically elongated slot in the drawer side piece passing said roller mounting member therethrough, and means includinga movable cam element carried by the drawer extraneous of said member and passing the member therethrough for adjustably fixing the vertical position of the mounting member in the slot.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Showers Mar. 15, 1932 Gardner Aug. 9. 1932 Waller Aug. 3, 1948 Wolters July 17, 1951 

